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This is a big 46″ parabolic mirror with a 1M focal length. The lens can reach about 2700F max collection. Not 100% sure about those figures yet as a mount is still needed and the mirror flexes a bit. Superheating steel wool creates surface nanoparticles when the wool turns bluish in color.

nice trick about heating wool ! I remember when I was young , a fist of dark tarnished silver coins instead of steel wool , to boil water in a pyrex beaker. the mirror was a tensioned rectangulare bathroom one which finally broked being too thick.﻿

Good video, and information. Now, the question of the day is how can you produce enough steam and pressure to power a turbine generator, and use the cooled steam to produce purified drinking water from sea water in a large scale?﻿

The long focal length could be excellent for making an array of them, as many as you can fit in an area side by side and still be able to point them at the same point. Ex; 4 of your 1 meter focal point parabolic mirrors pointing at the same jar. Then test to see how fast it boils, then later when you are prepared with a oil system, test oil in it to see how hot it gets, or keep oil pumping thru it to prevent damage if it goes to get too hot. lol Speed up the pumping, also the pump and oil need to be hooked to a radiator to cool it fast enough.

But either way a person could just put up 4 of these with independent heat collectors on each focal point of the 4 mirrors and hook the fluid piping together mechanically in series, etc…will still add the energy to the liquid, but it will take more parts and space.﻿

I wonder how a mason jar would fare? After all they're designed to be under pressure in a pressure cooker. Not sure the psi capabilities. Maybe if you put a pressure release valve in the cap it would keep it from over pressuring.﻿

When I was in 2nd Grade I invented and actually made a rolling parabolic oven and took it to school for a science project. I was only 7. Because of this and other things I ended up graduating high school by the time I was 11 🙂 But I did finish my PHD until I was 56 :(﻿

I used to have a 1/4 mile race car.. the gas tank in the trunk was a 5 gallon fuel cell.. it had a thin wire substance in it like your steel wool.. but the reason was opposite to what you are showing.. the wire in the fuel cell would not concentrate heat but rather disperse it.. so that even if a spark were to hit the gas, it could not catch on fire.. the product as I recall was called "Explosafe" and there were demonstrations… first putting this thin wool mesh in the tank would not displace the fluids.. hardly at all.. and 2nd was the disbursement of heat.. I would think your experiment would work better with tinfoil on the outside of your glass jar on the opposite side of the light rays to reflect light that otherwise would have traveled through the glass… in short I think the wire wool might be hurting your experiment by dispersing heat :)﻿

heating water in the presence of steel wool actually produces hydrogen due to the increased temperature and therefore increased rate of oxidization of the steel and guess where it gets its oxygen tesla experiment﻿

When designing these devices you need to keep track of some things.1) you need to know the ambient temperature of your system. You need this to account for heat transfer back to the surroundings.2) you need to know the initial temp of your system3) you need to know the final temp of your system – boiling temp is different at different elevations4) you need to keep track of the exact time it takes to raise the water to boiling.6) you need to know the mass of the water that makes up your system.7) you need to know the area of your mirror8) you need to have your mirror track the sun. you could make a simple tracking device with a German equatorial mount from any telescope. One of those mounts should easily support the weight of your acrylic mirror. Do all of this for me and I will run some calculations that can quantify the energy output of your heat collector. ﻿

Hi,
That could be a good idea if the steam tube is insulated as the steam would cool and condense as it travels down the length of the tube. If the steam volume is great enough it should work. The only problem I see is the down pipe's insulation solution. There are also new solar deep well magdrive pumps that can lift 200' foot to head at 500 gallons per day from a single 80 watt PV panel. Low pressure but the lift is completed to a tank.

Zenith Solar uses CPV and has no practical future compared to regular PV as the cost per watt is much higher. The 75% efficiency claims include warm/hot water. By placing regular PV panels under circulating water, efficiency jumps to 20%+, heat removed produces better current. The water is warmed equaling overall 50% efficiency. You could build 5 PV plants for the cost of one of theirs. Also true continuous mirrors like this one are 30% more efficient than square glass arrays like the Z system.

Not to burst any bubbles, but… solar panels only operate within a certain 'band gap' of light which is proportional to the amount of voltage you get. There are some companies that produce cells with layers of material each tuned to a different band gap, but they are more $ and are only 40%. The most cost effective solution I can think of is to have mirrors reflect more light onto a solar panels which would gather more light of the same band gap. Also filter out useless light to reduce heat…

I build steam engnes as a hobby. I am also a member of a Historical society that restores Stationary Steam Engines and Steam Traction Engines. I also enjoy watching your videos.

You seem to think that 60 lbs of steam is sufficient pressure to run an engine. Most engines in the 19 the century ran on more like 130 lbs of pressure. Late 19th and 20th century locomotives ran on more than 200 lbs of pressure.

Many of your ideas are not yet ready for practical use, but keep on experimenting 🙂